Category Archives: Vocabulary Basic

Auto

Posted on by

1. car [noun] [de auto, de auto’s]

The word "auto" is short for "automobiel", which translates to "automobile" or "motorcar".

Phonetically, "auto" ends in a long "o" and in order to keep this sound the plural form is formed by adding ‘s (apostrophe s) instead of just a single s (which would turn the long "o" into a short "o").

Examples:
– "Het aantal auto’s in Nederland groeit."
("The number of cars in the Netherlands is growing.")

– "Nederlanders rijden meestal in handgeschakelde auto’s."
("The Dutch usually drive manual transmission cars" or "The Dutch usually drive stick". Literally: "…ride in hand-shifted cars.")

– "Frank zit in een midlife crisis en wil daarom een snellere en grotere auto."
("Frank is having midlife crisis and therefore wants a faster and bigger car." There is no real Dutch equivalent for "midlife crisis" so we use the same terminology used with "zitten in" (literally "to sit in").)

2. self- [in a compound]

Examples:
– "Automutilatie duidt vaak op ernstige psychische problemen."
("Self-mutilation often indicates serious psychological problems.")

– "Frank is autodidact op de gitaar."
("On the guitar, Frank is self-taught.")

Related words:
– "Wagen": wagon (often used as slang for "car").
– "Auto(snel)weg": motorway, highway.
– "Automaat": either an automatic car, or a vending/slot machine.

Gek

Posted on by

1. fool, lunatic, nutcase, loony [noun] [de gek, de gekken]

You can often hear the noun "gek" being used informally between friends to address eachother when expressing disbelief about the other person’s actions or comments.

Examples:
– "Ga je dit jaar kamperen?" – "Nee gek, dat is toch niks voor mij!"
("Are you going camping this year?" – <informally:> "No fool, that is not my thing!" Literally: "…, surely that is nothing for me!")

– "Je moet uitkijken gek!"
(<in traffic:> "You have to watch out you fool!")

Expressions:
a) "Gekkenhuis!": literally meaning "madhouse", this word is often informally used to express disbelief about a situation, a bit like the word "bizar".

Examples:
– "… en toen hebben we nog tot 11 uur ‘s ochtends doorgefeest!" – "Echt? Gekkenhuis!!"
("… and then we partied on until 11 o’clock in the morning!" – "Really? Bizar!!")

– "Het was echt een gekkenhuis in de stad!"
("It was really insane downtown!", implying it was really crowded etc.)

b) "Dat is gekkenwerk!": literally "that is work for lunatics", this is used to describe that something is impossible to realize or just crazy to try to begin with.

Related words:
– "Mafkees": lunatic.
– "Dwaas": fool.
– "Mongool": moron. Although politically incorrect you will often hear this word used as a term of abuse.

2. crazy, mad, weird, strange, insane [adjective]

Examples:
– "Ben je soms gek?"
("Are you crazy or what?")

– "Ben je gek ofzo?"
("Are you crazy or what?")

– "Ik ben toch niet gek!"
("I’m not crazy, am I?" This is often used in arguments to emphasize that you must be right (unless when you are really crazy of course 😉 )

– "Ik ben gek op jou!!"
("I’m crazy about you!!)

– "Wat gek, ik kan mijn sleutels nergens vinden!"
("Strange, I can’t find my keys anywhere!")

– "Vind je ook niet dat jouw broer gekke vrienden heeft?"
("Don’t you also think your brother has weird friends?")

– "Let maar niet op hem, hij is gek!"
("Don’t pay attention to him, he is mad!")

Expression:
A well-known expression in Dutch is: "Doe maar gewoon, dan doe je al gek genoeg!"

It literally translates to: "Just act normally, then you act crazily enough!" and basically says to keep your posture and be normal and definitely do not let yourself go. This mentality is a result of the influence of Calvanism on the Dutch culture.

Related words:
– "Gestoord": insane (mental state).
– "Maf": weird, strange.

Plakband

Posted on by

tape (adhesive) [noun, no plural]

A piece of the common office tape is often called a "plakbandje" and a roll of similar tape a "rolletje plakband". Since both are small, the diminutive is used.
Larger tape that is for instance used to close boxes is called "tape", just like in English.

Examples:
– "Heb jij een rolletje plakband voor mij? Die van mij is op."
("Do you have (a roll of) tape for me? Mine is finished/used up.")

– "Mijn favoriete merk plakband is Scotch."
("My favourite brand of tape is Scotch.")

Related words:
– "Lijm": glue.
– "Punaise": drawing pin, thumbtack.

Gaaf

Posted on by

1. whole, intact, undamaged, perfect [adjective, adverb]

Examples:
– "Het tafelblad van de 500 jaar oude tafel was nog helemaal gaaf."
("The tabletop of the 500 years old table was still perfectly flawless."

– "Fotomodellen hebben over het algemeen een wit en gaaf gebit."
("In general, models have a white and perfect set of teeth.")

2. awesome, great, super, cool, brilliant [adjective, adverb]

Many other words than "gaaf" are in use to describe that something or someone is awesome or brilliant. It kind of depends on the person’s age and the region he or she lives or grew up in 🙂
Likewise there exist words that you can put in front of "gaaf" (or similar words). This then again can depend on region or age, see ‘Extra’.

Examples:
– "Wat vond je vond die film? – Hij was gaaf!"
("What did you think of that movie? – It was great!")

– "Wat vond je van de halsketting die Amanda gisteravond droeg? – Die was erg gaaf!"
("What did you think of the necklace Amanda was wearing last night? – It was really awesome!")

Related words:
– "Cool": cool, nice.
– "Fantastisch": fantastic.
– "Geweldig": great.

Extra:
In recent years it has become popular amongst youngsters to use the word "vet" ("fat" or "greasy") to describe that something is cool. This word can then be used as an adjective or as an adverb.

Examples:
"Het concert van U2 was echt vet!"
("The concert by U2 was really cool!")
or:
"Het concert van U2 was echt vet cool!"
("The concert by U2 was really super cool!" (or something) )

In the Dutch province of Noord-Brabant, it is common to use the adverb "kei" to strengthen the statement: "Het concert van U2 was echt keigaaf!". Likewise, "very good" usually translates to "keigoed".

Kort

Posted on by

1. short [adjective, adverb] (qualification of length / distance)

Examples:
– "In de winter zijn de dagen kort."
("During the winter, days are short.")

– "Dit is een korte DWOTD."
("This is a short DWOTD.")

– "Hoe was je weekend?" – "Veel te kort!"
("How was your weekend?" – "Way too short!")

– "Mijn broek is te kort!"
("My pants are too short!")

Expression:
"Aan het kortste eind trekken": to lose, literally: "to pull the shortest end".

2. brief [adjective, adverb] (qualification of time period)

Examples:
– "Ik hou het kort."
("I’ll keep it brief/short.")

– "Frank hield een korte presentatie voor het management."
("Frank held a brief presentation for the management.")

Related words:
– "Korten": to shorten, to cut (financially).
– "Inkorten": to shorten (of trousers for example), to cut down, to abbreviate.
– "Lang": long.
– "Klein": small.

The word "kort" appeared earlier in "DWOTD 38. Tram".